This invention relates generally to electrical connectors and more specifically, to elastomeric connectors suitable for interconnecting circuit boards and electrical devices, and a retention member for holding elastomeric connectors.
An increasing complexity of electronic assemblies in smaller packages are generating a need for new connectors to interconnect electronic components. For example, liquid crystal displays, vibratory motors, speakers and microphones are now being employed in devices of smaller and smaller size, such as cellular phone products and hand held devices. As the components become smaller and the terminals to connect the components are located closer together, known connectors are proving incapable of establishing reliable electrical connections.
The use of elastomeric connectors has become increasingly popular in some electronic devices because the connectors are readily adaptable in size and geometry to meet a large variety of applications. One type of elastomeric connector typically includes alternating layers of dielectric elastomer, such as silicon rubber, and an elastomer filled or doped with electrically conductive material such as silver particles, graphite particles, conductive fabrics, wires, etc. The dielectric elastomer layers are sandwiched between the conductive layers and are of sufficient thickness to insulate the conductive layers from one another and therefore prevent the formation of electrically conductive or leakage pathways between the conductive layers. The alternating dielectric and conductive layers provide a connector having a large number of conductive pathways in a small volume for closer contact spacing.
Elastomeric connectors are typically used for board-to-board, flex circuit-to-board, and component-to-board applications in mobile communications, portable electronic entertainment systems, hand held instrumentation and other space constrained electronic products. The elastomeric connectors are typically positioned within a dedicated cavity of the electronic product such that the elastomeric connectors have a surface-to-surface compression connection with the various components and/or boards. However, handling the elastomeric connectors as a separate component during assembly causes issues in manufacturability and ease of assembly, thus leading to increased assembly costs.
One approach that has been developed to ease assembly includes the use of a supporting boot that may be molded from an elastomeric material, such as silicone rubber, and formed around the elastomeric connector. Other approaches use a separately provided supporting boot fabricated from an elastomeric material, such as silicone rubber, that may be assembled with the elastomeric connector prior to mounting the boot/connector assembly into the intended electronic product. However, such supporting boots increase the number of components in the electronic product, increase the assembly time and the assembly cost for the electronic product, and increase the overall size of the electronic component.